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(Edited) The impacts of the city-wide up-zoning proposal on local businesses and residents will be major. This change will allow tall 50 feet tall structures if ground floor retail is included, where now one or two story businesses exist. One story is about 10 feet, so this will look like 5 stories in scale against 1 story current structures. Lease prices will escalate and many current businesses will close. While the image below is not correct for Huron Avenue , Cambridge St. would be rezoned for 80 feet (7 stories) so the heights would be accurate there. Thanks: Christopher Schmidt and Dan Eisner for corrections.

The sketch shown here is not possible under any zoning proposal currently under discussion.

Both Hi-Rise and Sarah's Market are currently BA-1 zoned, meaning that they are zoned for only 35 feet in height: Under Cambridge's proposed affordable housing overlay, these two buildings would not be eligible for 8 stories above grade (as pictured here), but instead for four stories.

Unlike the current properties, these buildings would require open green space (at least 15% of the property); these buildings have none, currently. The buildings could maintain their first floor retail, and add 3 floors of housing on top of them -- not entirely dissimilar from the property across the street, which is retail plus two stories.
As these properties are not near transit, they would require .4 spaces of parking per unit; in a property this size, this would likely mean 4-6 parking spots, hard to accomodate on this property. Given the relatively low amount of square footage available for building here, this is a poor example of what would likely be redeveloped: with the parking requirements due to distance from transit, and the low density available -- only 4 stories -- on this relatively small parcel, this would be a poor use of the lot -- but if it did, it could mean more green space (including trees!) replacing currently hardscape parking; and would bring the building in line with other nearby buildings. Since the funding would be provided by non-profits, grants, and via the city directly, the City would have an opportunity to take a role in designing the space, creating a positive commercial and residential space in what is currently an underutilized property.

I'm curious why the CCFRR would imagine this as a 7 or 8 story tall building in this environment, something no one is proposing to allow: seems like perhaps they've misunderstood the affordable housing overlay? If not, it seems disingenuous at best to suggest this might happen to these two properties.

Christopher - thank your for you comment. One of the key features of the AHO now moving toward a City Council vote is to allow far taller 8 story structures along major city corridors (those with bus routes - of which Huron is one). The image shown is intended to convey this increased height.

Reply

Christopher Schmidt

6/16/2019 07:59:34 pm

Okay, I'm glad to hear that this is just a case where you have misunderstood the proposal under the Affordable Housing Overlay: this is a great opportunity to learn where the city is actually proposing increasing density as described!

I've put together a blog article at https://medium.com/@crschmidt/the-height-of-cambridges-affordable-housing-overlay-f86a575ba75b which shows the areas where buildings up to 80 feet tall would be newly allowed. No building under the proposed overlay would be able to be 8 stories tall: the zoning clearly sets the limit at 7 stories and 80 feet.

In total, there are 874 properties, citywide, which would be newly in place to take advantage of 7 story tall buildings. They are clustered around Fresh Pond, around Massachusetts Ave (between Central Square and Harvard, and North of Harvard Square), and along Cambridge street east of Inman. No other significant areas are affected by the change in height limits at all -- certainly nothing even close to Huron Ave is affected.

I hope that you'll update this post with a more appropriate example of what development would look like under the proposal -- or at least correct the images here, which are completely misleading and inaccurate as a representation of what any current proposal would allow!

Christopher - glad you came here to comment. The AHO guidelines speak of major corridors as having much higher structures: 7 stories/80 feet (with 1 story being the rough equivalent to 10 feet). There is no indication in the CDD guidelines of which corridors (major avenues) are included, noting in "the city’s main corridors where larger buildings would be allowed." With active ground floors, districts now allowing 1-3 story buildings can go up to 50 feet. In those districts now allowing 40 feet (3.5 stories), there will be an allowable increase to 80 feet). In short, much the same scenario could play out on Cambridge Street where there are many older 1-2 story cottages and 1-2 story stores. That said regardless of setting, 50 or 80 feet tall box buildings without the sort of set backs and detailing you get currently through our design review system - will be problematic and may have a major impact on the neighborhood. Likely such building projects will also lead to the removal of current tenants (including local businesses) and a major change in property values- further inflating the housing market.

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Christopher Schmidt

6/17/2019 07:01:17 am

My blog post linked above gives the exact zoning language; have you read through the Affordable Housing Overlay proposal? As I said in my blog post, it's thankfully very easy to read! https://www.cambridgema.gov/.../CB0879444D9D41648BEF66FB0... is the text in question, and you can see that it has no mention of the word "transit corridors" anywhere in the proposal, so we don't need to worry about that confusion in any way, thankfully!

The text in question is: "Where the District Dimensional Standards allow a maximum building height of more than 40 feet, an AHO Project shall contain no more than seven Stories Above Grade and shall have a maximum height of 80 feet, as measured from existing Grade." (Specifically, for zones not *already* zoned for 80+ feet for residential, this is C-1A, C-2A, O-2A, BA, BB-2, BC, BC-1, IA-1, IA, IB-1, IC -- but notably *not* BA-1, as you suggested here.)

I've made the handy map for you (in the blog post above) which shows where these changes actually apply -- I understand not everyone is comfortable reading a zoning map or zoning ordinance, so I'm happy I could help here!

As you can see, only the eastern portion of Cambridge Street is newly included in these zoning rules -- an area notably short on 1-2 story cottages! In fact, there's only one two-story cottage-like building in the entire section Cambridge St. affected by this change as far as I can tell -- tucked between four-story ish taller buildings! (There are plenty of blocky, brick warehouse like buildings with no windows: certainly not the example of the beautiful architecture that much of Cambridge Street provides!)

Now, though, you're shifting the topic of conversation before we've even agreed on the fundamental basics of the overlay. I'm worried that if we can't agree on the basics of the zoning text, having any further discussion will be unproductive! Before we shift to that, can we agree on the basics of what the zoning would actually allow? Can I help any more in explaining which properties are affected by the taller zoning limits that you're referring to?

Thanks again Christoper, the blog has been corrected and with a note of thanks to you and DAn. Note too however that with ground floor stores it would be 50' not 35.' "Under the [AHO] proposal, where existing district standards allow a maximum building height of 40 feet or less, an AHO Project would be allowed to go up to four stories and a maximum of 45 feet. An AHO which contains active non-residential uses on the ground floor would be allowed to go up to 50 feet, while not exceeding four stories." In scale this is the same as roughly 5 story structures and will tower over the local stores. This is not 8 story height but very high indeed, and most of these businesses will likely go under, changing the neighborhood and its amenities significantly. Once one building of this height goes up, special permits will likely be approved for luxury housing of the same height and scale because these are decided based on the context. Note too that 80 feet (7 stories) would be allowed on Cambridge St. and the impacts there would also be severe. In both places property values will dramatically escalate making both housing and local businesses far more expensive, and furthering the gentrification already transforming the city through the huge push for luxury housing,

Reply

Christopher Schmidt

6/17/2019 10:09:43 am

Can you point to where I said 35 feet anywhere in what I said? I'd like to correct it if so. I did quote the *existing* zoning for 35 feet. If you disagree with that, I'm happy to explain more?

Christopher. On your FB post on the CCFRR site where this blog is posted you wrote "Both Hi-Rise and Sarah's Market are currently BA-1 zoned, meaning that they are zoned for only 35 feet in height:" Happy to correct.

Reply

Christopher Schmidt

6/17/2019 06:01:50 pm

Correct. Those properties are currently BA-1 zoned, meaning they are zoned for only 35 feet in height. That's the current description of the zoning; if you think that's wrong, you'd have to take it up with the city :) That's not the 100% affordable housing overlay proposal, of course -- the AHO is not current zoning rules!